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Our guest speaker for our next SFVOS General meeting on March 2, 2016 is our very own SFVOS Vice President Pamela Aitchison, who will be sharing information about how to keep our orchids healthy in our home environments. Her talk will cover many topics that will especially be of interest to new orchid growers, but experienced orchid growers may learn a trick or two as well.

Pam is a Certified University of California Master Gardener, and has been teaching organic gardening for many years. She provides training to the new Master Gardener Candidates every year, and is a regular guest lecturer at California State University Northridge (CSUN), the LA County Fair, and schools and non-profit organizations throughout Southern California.

Pam has been growing orchids for more than 30 years, and her collection includes Cattleyas, Dendrobiums, Epidendrums, Miltonias & Miltoniopsis, Oncidiums, Masdevallias, as well as Phalaenopsis, Cymbidiums, Vandas, Vanilla Orchids and Zygopetalums.

Pam will be showing us a PowerPoint Presentation and will hopefully give you many ideas and suggestions for caring for your orchids at home. You won’t want to miss this lecture, so mark your calendar today.

Our speaker for September is our own SFVOS member, Pamela Aitchison. Pam has been serving on our Board of Directors for the past year and is a regular contributor to our monthly newsletter. Pam is also the webmaster for our SFVOS website.

Pam is a Certified University of California Master Gardener, and has been teaching organic gardening for many years. She is on the teaching team that provides training to the new Master Gardener Candidates every year, and is a regular guest lecturer at California State University at Northridge (CSUN).

Pam has been growing orchids for more than 30 years, and her collection includes Cattleyas, Dendrobiums, Epidendrums, Miltonias & Miltoniopsis, Oncidiums, Maxillaria, Masdevillias, and Phalaenopsis, Cymbidiums, Vandas, Vanilla Orchids and Zygopetalums.

Pam will be sharing information about growing orchids the Hydro-Culture way, a method that is rapidly gaining popularity all over the world. Throw away what you think you know about hydroponics. This is completely different. The Hydro-Culture method of growing orchids is simple, requires much less work, less frequent watering and is much healthier for your orchids. Hydro Culture has been used for years by professional orchid growers and it certainly deserves consideration by beginners and experienced growers as well. Come join us on September 4th, to see her Power Point presentation and hands-on demonstration of the Hydro Culture method

Everyone loves to display their blooming orchids in their homes. Putting them all around the house adds a nice decorators touch to each room, but you can also put them all on one table for a more dramatic display. Your friends and family will love to see what you have blooming, and the display is constantly changing throughout the year, so it never looks the same.

Here is a sample window display you can set up in your home to show off your blooming orchids. Remember to put it in an East or North facing window. No direct sunlight as it can burn the tender leaves of some orchids, such as Phalaenopsis. Also the humidity inside homes is usually quite low, especially in the winter and the hot part of the summer when the air conditioner is running. You can provide more humidity by using a humidity tray under the orchids.

To set up a homemade humidity tray, place a shallow pan filled with gravel, decorative pebbles or lava rock on your table and fill with a small amount of water. Set the orchid pots on top of the rocks, but never let them sit in standing water. The pots should be above the water level at all times.

Keep your inside orchids clean by hosing off the entire plant in the bathtub or outside about once a month. Do this in the morning so the plant will have time to dry off completely during the day. Also never let water accumulate at the growing point on Phalaenopis (the point where the leaves connect at the center). Water left in the crown can lead to crown rot, so dump out, and blow out any remaining water on the plant before putting back on the table.

Lastly a small fan for air circulation would be very helpful. Put it on a timer and have it run for a few hours, on and off during the day. Orchids love moving air.